Divya Lawrance*

BPT, MPT-Musculoskeletal Disorders and Sports Physiotherapy, MIAP, India

*Corresponding Author: Divya Lawrance, BPT, MPT-Musculoskeletal Disorders and Sports Physiotherapy, MIAP, India.

Received: December 16, 2024; Published: February 28, 2025

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Swimming is one among the popular sports played in the world and is unique in nature. Shoulder pain is a significant problem in swimmers and has potential to be a greater problem in adolescent swimmers. The proximity of the humeral head to the acromion is the major factor in subacromial space narrowing with associated pain and loss of function. Any faulty movements during swimming will result in altered biomechanics of the shoulder girdle, where the scapular stabilizing muscles undergo fatigue and become weak potentially causing the abnormal positioning and abnormal scapular glides. Therefore, it is very important to be able to reliably and quantitatively assess the habitual humeral head position in relation to the acromion. There are well developed techniques to measure this includes Fluoroscopy and MRI. But these methods are not practical for everyday clinical use. There are established manual methods such as Kibler scapular measurement techniques to evaluate this. The aim and objectives of this study is to examine the changes in scapular position among the junior elite swimmers by using Kibler Method 2^nd and Kibler Method 3^rd of scapular measurement and to examine the changes in humeral head position in swimmers by using the Humeral Head Assessment Technique and also to determine the correlation between scapular position, humeral head position and shoulder injury among the junior professional swimmers.

Methodology: Subjects included adolescent professional swimmers (N = 30) with mean age of 14.10 ± 2.79. The outcome measures included are Kibler Method 2^nd and Kibler Method 3^rd to measure the scapular position and Humeral Head Assessment Technique in two different positions to measure the anterior translation of humerus in relation to the acromion.

Result: The scapular measurement by using Kibler 3^rd method showed moderate correlation (r = 0.072) with shoulder pain. Significant correlation found between Humeral Head Position and shoulder pain in hands on hips position (r = 0.048).

Conclusion: Scapular position by using Kibler 3^rd method is of a good clinical measure in everyday clinical practice. Kibler 3^rd method and humeral head in the hands-on hips position measure appears to be a clinically useful tool in assessment of the shoulder pain in young athletes.

 Keywords: Kibler 2^nd Method; Kibler 3^rd Method; Shoulder Pain; Reliability; Humeral Head Anterior Translation

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Citation

Citation: Divya Lawrance. ““A Cross-sectional Study to Determine the Relationship Between Scapular Position, Humeral Head Position and Shoulder Injury Among Elite Junior Swimmers”".Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 8.3 (2025): 27-32.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Divya Lawrance. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.